Sep 15 marks the anniversary of the hate crime known as the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing. A monument commemorates the bombing of the church in Birmingham, Alabama, while statues across the street honor the victims of the tragedy. The historic African-American church took a central role in the Civil Rights movement and helped contribute to the support of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when it was bombed by four members of the Ku Klux Klan on September 15, 1963. Four girls were killed in the bombing: Addie Mae Collins (age 14), Carol Denise McNair (age 11), Carole Robertson (age 14), and Cynthia Wesley (age 14). The explosion was so intense that one of the girls’ bodies was decapitated and so badly mutilated in the explosion that her body could only be identified through her clothing and a ring. More than 20 additional people were injured in the explosion, one of whom was Addie Mae’s younger sister, Sarah Collins (age 12), who had 21 pieces of glass embedded in her face and was blinded in one eye. With the recent shooting in Charleston, one could say that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
16th Street Baptist Church Bombing in Birmingham, Alabama
